(From today's Dippy)
 
 
WikiLeaks comes to college campuses
by _Dorcy Chen_ (http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/author/dorcy-chen)  |  
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 1:01 am 
 
 
 
 
A version of WikiLeaks may be making its way to college  campuses.



 
UniLeaks, a newly launched website, announced its aim to expose “corruption 
 and mismanagement” in United States colleges in an open letter to 
university  presidents on Monday. 
The website, which also operates in the United Kingdom and Australia, is  
dedicated to reporting on and publishing confidential university documents to 
 scrutinize university operations. UniLeaks only accepts restricted or 
censored  material relating to higher education anonymously through its 
website. 
Careful to distinguish itself from being “just another rumor mill,” 
Captain  Kangaroo, a UniLeaks spokesperson, wrote that the website seeks “hard 
evidence  of malfeasance and corruption” and will not “accept rumor or 
conjecture.” 
While Penn administrators were unable to comment on the launch of UniLeaks, 
 Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli said the University “communicates 
 openly, engages and consults broadly with its varied constituencies, both  
internal and external” in many ways. 
He cited faculty groups, student meetings with administrators, open forums  
and meetings as examples of how the University maintains transparency. 
Peter Collopy, a third-year graduate student in the Department of History 
and  Sociology of Science, said while it is unclear what the “political 
analysis” of  UniLeaks is, the website is bound to attract an audience. 
“Colleges and universities have a lot of planning processes that tend to be 
 fairly closed-doors,” Collopy said. “While the decisions made are 
announced, the  research and the process are not, and I think a lot of 
stakeholders 
such as  students and faculty would be interested in these processes.” 
He added that UniLeaks could also serve as a platform for those who hold  
views that are in the minority to seek anonymous support. 
Since the launch of WikiLeaks — a website that exposes confidential  
diplomatic messages — many similar projects have sprung up, including 
OpenLeaks,  
IndoLeaks and Balkan Leaks. 
Kristoffer Whitney — a graduate student in the Department of History and  
Sociology of Science who taught a summer course called “The Information Age:  
Computer, Bodies, Environment” — said it is possible to adapt WikiLeaks to 
 higher education. 
“In most cases, granting corporations rights means infringing on those of  
actual human beings,” Whitney said. “It is certainly possible to apply that 
by  analogy to transparency and higher education.” 
However, the impact of UniLeaks in the United States is unclear, said 
Joanna  Radin, a History and Sociology of Science graduate student. Radin, who 
also  taught “The Information Age,” said “it is possible to imagine a 
scenario in  which it might direct attention to more systemic issues 
characteristic 
of the  relationship between higher education, economic conditions and 
citizenship.” 
“As an elite institution with a global presence, I would expect Penn to be  
aware of the emergence of UniLeaks and prepared to participate in 
discussions  about the broader issues at play,” she added. 
Currently, there is only one document on the University of Birmingham 
posted  on UniLeaks. 


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